The present invention is directed to a flexible fish net having an escape panel wherein the escape panel is provided with a substantially rigid mesh having a mesh size greater than the mesh size of the flexible fish net.
In various types of fishing involving the use of nets, the largest problem involves the netting of a plurality of different types of marine life in addition to the desired species. Even if the catch consists substantially of the desired species of fish, there is still the problem of sorting undersized fish and returning them to the ocean for continued growth. In most instances the sorting of the undersized fish from the desired fish takes place after the catch has been completely removed from the water. Depending upon the efficiency of the sorting operation, the time lapse could prove fatal to a large number of small fish. Furthermore, the sorting of the undersized fish from the desired fish involves a considerable amount of time and effort which the fishing industry would like to eliminate. Therefore, it would be clearly desirable to cull the undersized fish of various species from the net as it fishes.
In the past, netting having a larger mesh has been used experimentally in a pound head in an attempt to achieve this result. However, due to the flexibility of the netting, the size of the individual mesh openings varied considerably resulting in too many fish being gilled to make this a feasible solution to the problem.
While various sorting devices and escape hatches have been devised for various species of marine life, such devices are not directed to sorting undersized fish from the fish of desirable size and permitting the undersized fish to escape during the netting operation.
The patent to Savoie (U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,068) is directed to an escape hatch for a fish net wherein a substantially rectangular panel is pivotally mounted in the upper side of a conventional type fishing net such as used in trolling operations to catch shrimp and the like. The hinge for the panel is located in the leading direction of movement of the net so tat during a trolling operation, the force of the water will keep the panel closed. When the trolling operation ceases, the panel will tend to lower to an open position due to gravity thereby allowing the more active species of fish, crabs and the like, to escape out through the opening. The remaining catch will be the desired shrimp. While the escape hatch which is used in conjunction with a conventional fish net, has a plurality of rigid openings, the size of the openings is substantially smaller than the mesh openings of the net and there is no discussion of sorting fish by size.
The patent to West et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,335) is directed to a sorting device for troll nets. The sorting device enables capturing of preselected marine life and harmlessly separating non-selected marine life. However, the sorting device is comprised of a substantially funnel-shaped outlet located in the side of the troll net to allow the escape of undesirable species. There is no discussion or suggestion of sorting a particular species by size.